innkeeper

American  

[in-kee-per] / ˈɪnˌki pər /

noun

1. a person who owns or manages an inn or, sometimes, a hotel.

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innkeeper British  

/ ˈɪnˌkiːpə /

noun

1. an owner or manager of an inn

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Etymology

Origin of innkeeper

First recorded in 1540–50; inn + keeper

Explanation

An innkeeper is someone who owns or manages an inn. When you arrive at an inn, the innkeeper might be the person who checks you in and gives you a key to your room (and maybe a chocolate on your pillow). The earliest innkeepers ran inns in Europe during medieval times. These inns provided lodging, food, and a place for travelers to leave their horses, and an innkeeper managed all of these details. Today in the UK, some pubs call themselves inns, so you might find an innkeeper serving pints there, while in the US an inn is almost always a more charming version of a motel, run by an innkeeper.

Example Sentences

Often have I recalled the scene in John Buchan’s spy thriller “The 39 Steps” when the protagonist, Richard Hannay, tells his true but unlikely story to an innkeeper.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 23, 2025

The introverted Ms. Grade acknowledged that she was a most unlikely innkeeper.

From New York Times • Mar. 17, 2024

Moore complicates the timeline by interweaving another narrative, told via a series of letters written by an innkeeper to her sister just after the end of the Civil War.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 14, 2023

Audience members also got a glimpse of Olivia Colman as a Cockney innkeeper and Sally Hawkins as Wonka's mother.

From BBC • Apr. 28, 2023

The innkeeper handed over a coin and the smith stuffed them into an old burlap sack.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss